The American Gaming Association (AGA) announced a first-time unified campaign for political support called “Gaming votes” with eyes toward lobbying 2016 presidential candidates.

Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International and Chairman of the American Gaming Association Jim Murren discussed key points, during the launch, of a national voting initiative in key presidential election states at Aristocrat Technologies on Feb. 12.

One of the initiative’s main goals is to ensure that presidential candidates understand gaming’s positive “We’re going to call on presidential candidates to become more educated about this industry, to replace myths with facts, and to let these candidates know the gaming industry is a gateway to middle-class jobs,” said AGA President Geoff Freeman.

“When they’re talking about issues like putting Americans back to work, reforming the regulatory burdens in this country, tax reform, infrastructure — they’re talking about issues important to the gaming industry,” Freeman added.

The gaming association also hopes to make casinos a focus in battleground states— including Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio—by using the magic word: jobs.

The AGA, which represents the interests of commercial casinos, Native American tribes and gambling machine manufacturers, pushed 1.7 million jobs in the industry that span more than 200 different types of careers, and 62,000 casino-related jobs are expected to be added this year.

Along with urging candidates to support issues to benefit the industry, the plan will also involve encouraging the industry’s workers in those states to go to the polls, however, an outright presidential endorsement isn’t expected.

Floyd Mayweather sends out some Phil Ivey love after tweeting to his 5.58m followers to get online and learn to play poker at the Ivey League.

Imagine you own an online poker training site.

You want to attract some fish.

What do you do?

Well, if you’re Phil Ivey. The undisputed king of poker. You call your friend Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather and ask him to send a tweet out to his 5.5 million followers.

5.5 million!

Learn how to play poker like @philivey #TMT http://t.co/WWVIFFMgGa

Michael Kane wins the Season 7 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour opener in Perth after defeating Stephen McHugh in heads-up action to take home the AU$98,900 first prize.

A Scotsman is the winner of the Season 7 Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) opener in Perth. Michael Kane defeated Stephen McHugh in a heads-up battle that lasted three hours. His prize was AU$98,900.

Kane hadn’t read the script. If he had he would have known that the winner of the event should have been Bryan Huang. He was a member of the illustrious PokerStars Team Pro. He had over $600,000 in live tournament earnings. He also had the chip lead.

He was also the first one out.

According to the PokerNews Live Reporting team, Huang’s death came by a thousand cuts.

“He simply bled chips until he was down under 300,000 with blinds at 8,000/16,000” Said PokerNews reporter Josh Bell.

By this time two and a half hours of frustration had passed. Huang looked down and saw pocket nines. It was good enough. Kane looked down at Big Slick. That was good enough also. The pair tangoed. Two kings on the board and Huang was left with chip dust. Navin Bechar would eliminate him shortly thereafter A8dd

Chris Gordon has taken the top prize in the £200 buy-in World Poker Tour National London No-Limit Hold’em Accumulator event, after beating Jesus Garcia in heads-up action.

[Image Source: PokerNews]

Chris Gordon is the latest World Poker Tour (WPT) National Series champion. He defeated the Spaniard Jesus Garcia in heads-up action. His reward was £22,500.

The event took place at Aspers Casino in Stratford. It was a £200 buy-in event with accumulator rules. This allowed players to buy-in three times and take their combined weight of chips into the second day of action.

The partypoker sponsored event attracted the UK pros with most of the laughing gas. Steve Watts, Sinem Melin and James Dempsey enjoying the fun, but not bearing any fruit. There was even a return to action for the former Poker Million winner James Akenhead. None of the aforementioned stars of the game made a dent in this one though.

24-players returned for the final day of action. The two most prominent names belonged to Kevin Allen and Matas Cimbolas. Allen – the former Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event winner – would finish 19th. Cimbolas – the former WPT UK Main Event winner, and recent European Poker Tour (EPT) Deauville Main Event final tablist – finished 14th. Both players getting there short stacks in on a whim that sent them to the rail.

Chris Gordon was the most experienced player at the final table. He sat down with close to $200,000 in live tournament earnings. He left with over $200,000. It was his biggest score to date. He is yet to hit the jackpot. Instead, he has kept in the game by cashing consistently since 2007.

Online gaming operator 888 Holdings has terminated £744m ($1.1b) takeover discussions with bookmaker William Hill after talks broke down over price with a key stakeholder.

888 said that the board of the company and the representatives of the principal shareholder trusts, together with their respective advisers, have had a number of discussions with William Hill and its advisers concerning a possible recommended offer.

“Due to a significant difference of opinion on value with a key stakeholder, it has not been possible to reach agreement on the terms of a possible offer and the Board of the Company has agreed with William Hill to terminate discussions, said 888.

888 announced last week that Hills made an offer of 210p per share, a total of £744m followed by a statement saying that it had “received an approach regarding a possible offer,” but there was no guarantee that “any firm offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any firm offer might be forthcoming.”

Shares in 888 fell 16% at 142.75p on Monday, having soared more than 25% before closing to 18% at 171.5p last week after it was revealed to be in talks with William Hill.

“The company is in good health and continues to trade comfortably in line with expectations,” said 888 CEO Brian Mattingley. “The company will announce its full year results on 24 March 2015 and the board of the company looks forward to the future with confidence.”

Shares in William Hill Plc. rose by nearly 0.5% to 383.90p on Monday and the company is due to report full-year results on February 27.

It’s no secret that women have their place within the industry but if your mind automatically drift towards bingo when you think of the female players, you might be making a big mistake. Several studies over the years have announced woman as the more attractive segment in the gaming industry.

We sat down with Mikael Strunge, CEO of AnnaCasino.com, as he talks about the fairer sex in the world of online gaming.

Anna Casino was founded in November 2014 and is managed and operated by a Maltese company, which has many casino brands under its wings. The website offers close to 200 casino games that appeals to wide range of slots fans and especially to the ladies in the house.

Mikael, why do you think women are such an attractive segment in general?

The female segment of the online gaming market is terribly overlooked by the established online gaming community. Naturally, discussing women in general as a segment is a bit wide since they, as their male counterparts, fall into many different sub-segments but the work done on the subject does suggest them to be of higher value. The main reason for this is to be found in their motivation for being consumers of gaming products. Women tend to use our products as they were intended – as a means of relaxing and having fun. This leads them to play for less money at a time but have a much longer activity span. They are more sensible about their use of gaming products you might say. Men, on the other hand, are more in it to win and they tend to play more aggressively and hence stop playing earlier if they don’t reach their objective.

Are the higher overall value of the female players the only reason why they are an attractive segment?

No, the female players also have a tendency to shop around between operators much less. They tend to find an operator they like and stick with that operator for a longer period of time. This fact naturally contributes to the overall attractiveness of the female players from an operator’s point of view.

16 February 2015 – Singapore: Asia’s largest mixed martial arts organization with a 90% market share, ONE Championship™ (ONE FC), has announced an additional bout for ONE FC: AGE OF CHAMPIONS, which takes place 13 March in Kuala Lumpur. Rising star Amir Khan returns to lock horns with Florian Garel, and Walaa Abbas replaces Angela Lee as opponent for Ann Osman.

Amir Khan is a Singaporean mixed martial artist with an undefeated amateur record who has competed in the United States. He is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt under Relson Gracie, and also has competitive wrestling and Muay Thai experience. With more than seven years of combat sports experience under his belt, Khan now faces Florian Garel after being victorious in his first two ONE FC bouts.

Originally from France, Florian Garel trains out of Taiwan Top Team and has made Taiwan his second home. Garel studied the Chinese language while in university and moved to Taiwan to marry his Taiwanese wife. A 4th Dan Karate black belt, Garel eventually settled in Taichung where he now teaches martial arts.

Walaa Abbas is a national Egyptian kickboxing champion who has notched a 2-2 record so far as a professional mixed martial artist. She boasts of exceptional striking prowess and always looks to finish fights early. Abbas will be taking on Malaysia’s warrior belle, Ann “Athena” Osman after replacing Osman’s original opponent, Angela Lee.

For more updates on ONE Championship™, please visit www.onefc.com and follow Twitter and Instagram @ONEFCMMA and Facebook at www.facebook.com/ONEFCMMA

About ONE FC

With a 90%+ market share in Asia, ONE Championship™ is Asia’s largest Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organization. Headquartered in Singapore, the world’s most exciting mixed martial arts organization hosts the best Asian mixed martial artists and world champions, all signed to exclusive contracts, on the largest media broadcast in Asia. ONE Championship™ has partnered with FOX and STAR Sports for an unprecedented 10-year cable television deal with a coverage that spans 70+ countries across the world.

The NBA’s annual mid-season classic has come and gone and boy, it was pretty special, wasn’t it? I’m not usually that excited over the festivities of the NBA’s All-Star weekend, but this year proved that it can still catch the attention of hardcore and mainstream fans alike.

I like to consider myself in the first category so I’ve seen my fair share of All-Star games. Some lived up to the hype. Some didn’t. But over the past few years, I’ve grown disenchanted about what happens during the weekend. Everything seemed staged and even the games themselves have turned me off.

Ahead of this year’s festivities, I had to find a way to get excited about All-Star weekend. So I did what any self-respecting sports gambler would do. I sized up the events and I bet on them, not knowing exactly what to expect. So I put a few units on some of the props, specifically the winners of the Three-Point Shoot Out, the Dunk Contest, and the Shooting Stars game. I didn’t win all of them, but I made enough to at least break even for the weekend.

Ultimately, I ended up watching a lot more of the All-Star weekend than I probably should. But for what its worth, I actually enjoyed what I saw, especially the All-Star game itself. Shout out to Russell Westbrook for cashing in on those 15/1 odds for All-Star Game MVP.

The All-Star game had a plethora of props but I’ll focus on those that I bet on. The BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge was the first on my ticket and while my bet didn’t cash – Rudy Gobert at 25/1 odds – the Stifle Tower did make it interesting with a very productive showing. If it weren’t for Andrew Wiggins – the favorite at 3/1 odds – I probably would’ve celebrated a huge win to begin my prop-betting on All-Star Weekend.

Saturday’s festivities included a host of events, although some of my money went to the Three-Point Contest and the Dunk Contest. I lost out on the Greek Freak and his 3/1 odds to win the Dunk Contest, but I did make good scratch on Steph Curry winning his first Three-Point Shootout at 13/4 odds. Not a lot of money was won, but it was still decent enough to spot a few bets on the All-Star Game MVP.

Speaking of the actual All-Star Game, I put money down on MVP on four players with the hope that at least one of them would cash in. I had two of the favorites at bigger sums – Steph Curry at 13/4 odds and LeBron James at 7/2 odds – and two longer shots – Russell Westbrook and John Wall, both at 15/1.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has said that it expects the local casino industry to post significant revenue growth in 2015 despite China’s increased crackdown against corruption.

According to PAGCOR chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr., the Philippines is likely to survive the crackdown unscathed, as PAGCOR’s casino model doesn’t rely too heavily on China’s VIP market.

“China is not our number one market,” Naguiat said told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Of course, more Chinese coming here would be better for us, but of 100 million outbound Chinese tourists, we get less than 1 percent of that. It’s relatively small.”

“There’s a wider mix of nationalities coming here to play in our casinos. It’s not just the Chinese,” Naguiat added.

Naguiat and PAGCOR are projecting another year of double-digit casino revenue growth in the Philippines on the strength of Solaire Manila’s expansion and the opening of City of Dreams Manila. The Philippine casino industry saw its gross gaming revenue increase by 16% in 2014 while VIP and junket players have increased by almost 50%.

Naguiat also believes that the Philippines may have benefited from the construction delays experienced by the casino projects of Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global and Kazuo Okada’s Tiger Resorts & Leisure Entertainment, as there’s no over-capacity in the Philippines casino market that might have been negatively impacted by China’s crackdown.

Casino operator SkyCity is calling an audible on its planned convention center in downtown Auckland after the government ruled out public funding to help pay for the project’s costs.

The casino operator is revising its design for the convention center to keep its cost around the initial budget of $400 million. That could mean developing a smaller scale project, something Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the government was amenable to as long as the new designs wouldn’t be more than 10% smaller.

“We have indicated today that we are prepared to accept a slightly smaller NZICC if that’s required to meet the agreed total construction cost, but again that’s at the Crown’s option, we have to decide whether we’ll accept that,” Joyce said, as quoted by Radio New Zealand.

Joyce also said that it’s up to SkyCity to come up with “suitable” design changes and submit them to the government. Likewise, SkyCity is free to ramp up its own budget if it saw the need to take that route.

“The Government has made it clear it will be absolutely our cost,” SkyCity Chief Executive Nigel Morrison said.

CASINO CANBERRA EXTENDS OPENING HOURS

Casino Canberra announced that it would extend its opening hours from Saturday as part of the new owners’ plan to help revitalize the area. The casino would now open every day at noon and close at 4am, with an option of staying open until 6am if it’s busy.

90 Digital CEO Nick Garner talks about another important part of Trust Optimisation which is making sure that users get what they expect to see in this edition of CalvinAyre.com’s SEO Tip of the Week.

Short intro to Trust Optimization.

Along with on site optimization and link acquisition, there seems to be a third element to ranking well on Google, it’s called Trust Optimization. Trust Optimization is based on the information we have got from anecdotal evidence on click through rates and rankings along with explicit guidelines from Google stating what they are looking for in a trusted website.

On with the post…

In a previous post we talked about accessing the main content of a page without having too many ads and get in the way. Here we go into disruptive and destructive elements on the page which gets in your way.

In Google quality Rater Guidelines 2014, they say:

“ • Ads and SC should be arranged so as not to distract from the MC—Ads and SC are there should the user want them, but they should be easily “ignorable” if the user is not interested.

The French poker community has been dealt another blow with news that the European Poker Tour Deauville Festival will not be returning in Season 12.

I feel like a broken record.

France and poker go together like a lion and an antelope.

According to PokerNews scribe Giovanni Angioni, poker players enjoying life on the European Poker Tour (EPT) will not get the opportunity to travel to Deauville in Season 12.

“Our contract to hold EPT events in Deauville has now reached its natural conclusion,” Rebecca McAdam, Senior Manager of Public Relations at PokerStars and Full Tilt told PokerNews.

It’s a body blow of Carl Froch proportions for the French. Finding a top quality live event in France is becoming more difficult than finding a Pamela Anderson marriage that works.

The Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) was once one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the annual calendar. In 2012, Patrick Partouche, CEO of Groupe Partouche, rang the death knell. Whilst it’s true that there were a lot of reasons why people were glad to see the back of the event, it did leave a hole in the French live poker schedule.

Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has filed to divorce the former One Drop star Rick Salomon for the third time in the past five years.

When you achieve notoriety by becoming stars of the sex tape craze, you don’t need an audience with John Gottman to realize that the odds of finding marital bliss are not going to be in your favor.

And so it seems to be the case with Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon. According to court reports obtained by TMZ, the former Baywatch beauty has filed for divorce for the third time in the past five years.

The 47-year old couple first tied the knot in Oct 2007. Two months later and Pammie was filing for an annulment. The couple had some sort of reconciliation and was remarried in Jan 2014. Six months later and Anderson once again filed for divorce, before calling off the separation and falling back in love. It seems it’s not going to be third time lucky for Salomon.

Anderson has previous broken marriages to the Motley Crue star Tommy Lee (95-98) and Kid Rock (06 – 07). Anderson and Lee kicked off the sex tape craze when in 1995 a sex tape of the pair was stolen from their home and circulated by the Internet Entertainment Group (IEG). The pair sued IEG, received an out of court settlement, and then allowed the tape to be broadcast. Anderson has also appeared in a sex tape with the former Poison singer Bret Michaels.

Salomon is no stranger to sex-tape controversy. He is partly responsible for the rise to fame of Paris Hilton after his part in the One Night in Paris sex tape involving the pair. In 2008, Salomon finished fourth in the $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop for a $2.8m score. He has over $3m in live tournament earnings.

The Scouse Pammie

Georgian poker welcomes The World Poker Tour, after the poker tour behemoth announced an exclusive deal with the countries flagship gambling entity Europe-Bet.com.

What do I know about Georgia?

I know that it’s the name of a European country – and not just a state in the U.S – which will no doubt alarm many in the land of stars and stripes; Georgians don’t call their country Georgia and instead call it Sakartvelo; if you get up close and personal with a Georgian you will probably end up smeared with spit due to their snot induced use of consonants; and the World Poker Tour (WPT) will be setting up camp in 2015.

The WPT have announced an exclusive partnership with the Georgian facing online, and live, casino Europe-Bet.com. The terms of the contract will allow the latter to use licensed WPT products and services on an exclusive basis in Georgia. This includes the ability to distribute the WPT TV show, sell merchandise and anything else carrying the WPT brand.

“We continue to strive to maintain our brand positioning, not only as the undisputed market leader in Georgia, but also as a globalized operator,” said Europe-Bet.com CEO Nicolas Fleiderman. “Our partnership with World Poker Tour will help us expand our poker penetration at a solid pace. We are excited to host WPT events at our premier poker club, and to showcase our strong online offering.”

The deal will also see the two teams host three live events throughout 2015. WPT National Georgia will take place on June 4. It will be a $1,000 buy-in event, with the final table taking place on June 7. The event will carry a $200,000 guarantee and online satellite qualifiers are currently underway on the site.

Then as autumn becomes winter the capital of Tbilisi will be host to a WPT Main Event stop, and a second WPT National tour event. Details of both of these events haven’t been released to the public at the time of writing. But we do know the Main will take place in Nov and the second National in Dec.

Sam Panzica wins his fourth World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring after beating Howard Darnold, in heads-up action, to take the first prize of $41,159 at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida.

Sam Panzica has become only the 18th player in history to win four World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold rings, and I would lay my bottom dollar that at 22-years old he is the youngest to ever do so.

The victory, Panzica’s 20th WSOP-related cash, takes his total live career earnings over the $400,000 mark. His first victory came in Choctaw, back in January 2013, when he topped a field of 279 players to win the $33,477 first prize in a $580 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event. Then nine months later he won back-to-back rings in Omaha events in Cincinnati. There are only sevens players who have five or more rings. Panzica wants in.

Panzica’s fourth ring came in Event #9: $1,125 NLHE. 147-players entered the event. There was a $147,000 prizepool and Panzica took the top prize of $41,159.

It was a tough final table. Former WSOPC gold ring winner Paul Solokoff finished sixth, and a player I believe will be a star in 2015, two-time WSOPC gold ring winner Joe Kuether finished seventh. Kuether recently bagged his first-ever seven figure score when he finished runner-up to Ilkin Garibli in the $25k High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

Here are the Palm Beach results so far.

EVENT #1: Juan Restrepo defeated 2,050 players ($580 NLHE Re-Entry) for $161,452